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Haiti government calls off search and rescue

Haiti's government has declared the
search and rescue phase for survivors of the earthquake over, the
United Nations announced Saturday, saying there is little hope of
finding more people alive 11 days after much of the capital was
reduced to rubble.

The statement from the Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs came a day after an Israeli team reported
pulling a man out of the debris of a two-story home and relatives
said an elderly woman had been rescued. Experts say the chance of
saving trapped people begins diminishing after 72 hours, but one
mother still missing her children said it's too soon to give up.

"Maybe there's a chance they're still alive," said Nicole
Abraham, 33, wiping away tears as she spoke of hearing the cries of
her children - ages 4, 6 and 15 - for the first two days after the
Jan. 12 quake.

Meanwhile Saturday, mourners gathered near the ruins of the
shattered cathedral to pay final respects to the capital's
archbishop and a vicar in a somber ceremony that doubled as a
symbolic funeral for all the dead.

"I came here to pay my respects to all the dead from the
earthquake, and to see them have a funeral," said Esther
Belizaire, 51, whose cousin is among the dead.

The 7.0-magnitude quake killed an estimated 200,000 people,
according to Haitian government figures cited by the European
Commission. Countless dead remain buried in thousands of collapsed
and toppled buildings in Port-au-Prince, while as many as 200,000
have fled the city of 2 million, the U.S. Agency for International
Development reported.

With the local government essentially incapacitated, the U.N.
has coordinated rescue efforts alongside the U.S. and teams from
around the world. Spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs said the Friday
afternoon decision does not mean rescue teams still searching for
survivors would be stopped from carrying out whatever work they
felt necessary.

"It doesn't mean the government will order them to stop. In
case there is the slightest sign of life, they will act," Byrs
told The Associated Press. She added, however, that "except for
miracles, hope is unfortunately fading."

All told, some 132 people were pulled alive from beneath
collapsed buildings by international search and rescue teams since
the Jan. 12 disaster, she said.

An Israeli military spokeswoman said Saturday no decision had
yet been taken to halt their search and rescue operations a day
after they saved a 21-year-old man who survived in part by drinking
his own urine.

With the rainy season on the way, U.N. relief workers are
concerned that many Haitians are still homeless and Byers said the
focus now will be squarely on providing shelter and medical
treatment. About 609,000 people are homeless in the capital's
metropolitan area, and the United Nations estimates that up to 1
million could leave Haiti's destroyed cities for rural areas
already struggling with extreme poverty.

On Saturday morning, more than 1,000 people, many weeping and
clutching handkerchiefs, gathered in a small park for the funerals
of Msgr. Joseph Serge Miot, the archbishop of Port-au-Prince, and
the vicar Charles Benoit. Classical music wafted over their two
closed white caskets covered with flowers.

"This is for everyone," Cleopas Auza said of the ceremony
before it began.

Nepthalie Miot, a niece of the archbishop, choked back tears as
she described the man who would have worked to comfort the nation
after the disaster had he not been killed himself.

"He was a very compassionate person. He tried to help the
poor," she told the crowd, which included President Rene Preval,
New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan and the Vatican's ambassador to
Haiti, Archbishop Bernadito Cleopas Auza.

Only a small number of funerals have been held since the quake,
with most people buried anonymously and without ceremony in mass
graves on the outskirts of the city, or burned in the streets.

"The hardest thing for us is the smell of all the dead
bodies," said Josette Elisias, 45, wearing a red handkerchief to
cover her nose and mouth on Saturday as workers cleared rubble and
debris from streets with brooms, rakes and wheelbarrows.

Scores of aid organizations, big and small, have stepped up
deliveries of food, water, medical supplies and other aid to the
homeless and other needy in seaside city.

In the U.S., celebrities and artists made impassioned pleas for
charitable donations during an internationally broadcast telethon
Friday night.

"The Haitian people need our help," said actor George Clooney,
who helped organize the two-hour telecast. "They need to know that
they are not alone. They need to know that we still care."

More than a dozen Latin pop stars including Shakira, Ricky
Martin, Gloria Estefan, Paulina Rubio, Daddy Yankee and Juanes were
to appear Saturday on a special live edition of a popular Univision
variety show to raise money for the American Red Cross to help aid
earthquake victims.